


The Threat

by Pidge



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-27
Updated: 2014-11-08
Packaged: 2018-01-13 22:22:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1242727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pidge/pseuds/Pidge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>David doesn't know if he can trust the Animorphs or not. Or if they are going to get him killed. (The Threat told from David's point of view.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I was going to die.

I was falling out of an alien ship from who knows how far up. I was tumbling over and over through the air. I was a cockroach. And I was about to die.

My name is David.

 

I heard the others screaming. Heard isn't quite the right term but there is no other way to explain it. Their screams were simply noises in my head. It didn't even seem real.

Maybe I should back up.

The others who were screaming were Jake, Marco, and Cassie. Marco, the rude, sarcastic kid who got me into this mess. Jake, some delusional jock who thought he was leading an army. And Cassie. 

They were the Animorphs. Along with Ax, Rachel, and Tobias, the hawk.

They were a group of kids who thought they could beat alien invaders. These alien invaders are called Yeerks. They have all of the typical alien things - spaceships, laser beams, weird creatures from out of space. But they weren't even using that to invade because what they truly are was scarier.

They enslave people. 

They took my parents away from me. They destroyed my house. They turn the people you love into strangers. They were able to control an individual. They would steal that person's life. They took away all of that person's choice.  

I had a hard time seeing a difference between the Yeerks and the Animorphs.

None of that mattered anymore.

<We're gonna dieeee!> I yelled in a panic.

<l do not believe the impact will kill us,> Ax said. <l don't believe our mass is sufficient to cause death when we impact.>

<He's right!> Cassie cried. <You can't kill a cockroach by dropping it. Not even from this high.>

<Unless that's water below us,> Marco said. <ln which case we could hit the water and get chomped by some big hungry fish.>

<Should we demorph?> Ax wondered.

<No time,> Jake said. <We'd get bigger, more mass, and then when we hit we'd->

There was a jolt as something hit me. A gigantic talon closed around my body. It was going to crush me!

<That is you guys, right?> Rachel's thought-speak voice asked calmly. She wasn't just chased around by aliens and thrown out of a spaceship. Of course, she was calm. <l mean I figure, cockroaches falling through the air, gotta be you guys.>

<Yeah, you seldom see cockroaches at a thousand feet up,> the hawk, Tobias, said.

The two of them had not been aboard the ship. The rest of us, however, were foolish enough to grab onto the president's helicopter as it was taken. That decision ended up with me, naked, surrounded by aliens, before being chased by said aliens while morphed as a cockroach, almost gassed to death, before falling out the spaceship.

Did I mention this was my first day as an Animorph? 

It was supposed to be just a recon mission. The leaders of the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, England, and France were meeting in secret. One of those leaders was already controlled by the Yeerks. The rest were targets. We were here just to scope out the situation.

However, the Yeerks decided to steal the helicopter and the big bad, Visser Three, acquired what we thought was the president. All of this happened while we were trying not to die. 

Rachel and Tobias set us down in in a secluded area between sand dunes.

We demorphed in the dunes. Halfway through, I remembered. I still couldn't morph clothes like the others. Just another thing they hadn't bothered to teach me before the first mission.

Luckily, Jake had noticed and said, "Rachel, Cassie. Look the other way."

The others were in an assortment of skintight clothing. Bike shorts, t-shirts, leotards, all in a variety of colors. They looked silly, like a group of superheroes that didn't bother to coordinate. 

But not as silly as I looked and felt. I was naked, trying to cover myself up, in front of a bunch of strangers. I heard Rachel giggle to Cassie. I felt my face flush with humiliation. 

<l'll take care of it,> Tobias said and flapped away.

<l do not understand humans and their strange beliefs when it comes to clothing,> Ax said. He was in his natural form which was jarring. He looked like a blue centaur with a deadly blade at the end of his tail, no mouth, and four eyes, two of them on top of stalks that could rotate all around. <You wear artificial skin and artificial hooves. When it is cold that makes sense. But when it is warm it seems strange. And you get so concerned when some article of clothing is missing or worn in the wrong way.>

"You mean like that time you wore socks on your hands?" Marco asked.

"Or the time you wore underwear on the outside of your pants?" Rachel added, still turned away.

They were joking around. It was as if they didn't even notice how embarrassed I was. They only cared about each other and they couldn't be bothered with the new kid.

"You know, maybe this is funny to you guys," I said. "But it's not all that funny to me. What if someone came along?"

Jake laughed. "Well, David, if they did, I think they'd probably notice the four-eyed, scorpion-tailed, blue, half-deer-looking alien before they worried about you."

The hawk swept back in on the breeze, turned toward us, and dropped a pair of orange swim trunks and a Grateful Dead T-Shirt. Both had price tags still attached. I grabbed them out of the air and ripped the price tags off. I watched the little pieces of paper hit the sand.

<Remind me we have to return those to the Kahuna Beach Shop,> Tobias said.

"You stole them?" Cassie asked.

<No, I borrowed them. Besides, I'm a bird. Birds are not capable of stealing. What are they going to do, arrest me?>

I glanced up at the hawk as I slipped on the shorts. I looked around at the others. Why were these kids risking their life for nothing? Why would they want to die?

"We'll find a way to get the money to the store," Jake said. "We don't want to even start down that path. In an emergency like this, maybe we can grab something. But we have to make it right later. That's the rule."

I pulled the t-shirt over my head and shoved my arm out. I looked ridiculous but at least I was clothed.

"About time," Rachel muttered as she and Cassie turned around. "I've been staring at a dead sand crab." 

"You know, it would be amazing," I said. How did they not see the possibilities? They didn't have to die.

I didn't have to die.

"What would be?" Jake asked.

"Us, with our powers? We could take anything we wanted. We could like morph into cheetahs or whatever, run into some jewelry store, grab the diamonds, and get away at sixty miles an hour. What could anyone do? We'd be outta there. Plus, we'd morph back to humans."

"Let's do that," Marco said dryly. "Right after we figure out how to keep the Yeerks from turning the most powerful leaders in the world into alien-infested zombies. As soon as we're done with that, we start ripping off jewelry stores."

I shot him a look but I realized I went too far. "Hey, I was just kidding... I guess I forgot you're the only one allowed to make jokes, Marco."

"Okay, time to get serious here," Jake interrupted. "They caught us by surprise. Maybe they know that was us scurrying around up there, maybe they don't. But one way or the other, we have to get inside that resort and get busy."

"We have to get past the greatest security in the world just to get into that place," Rachel said. "We have to go by air. But we can't use bird-of-prey morphs. That'd be slightly noticeable."

"No problem," Cassie said. "It's the beach. There's one kind of bird no one can keep off the beach. Seagulls."

"Yeah, well, I don't have a seagull morph," I pointed out. The Animorphs forgot about the new kid again. I was just the weak link to them but I would show them. I would be strong. I didn't need them taking care of me. "But I'll bet I could morph back into golden eagle morph and bring one down."

"Tobias?" Jake yelled up to him. The hawk was circling in the breeze above us. He dropped down closer. "Sorry to keep sending you out for things, but can you get a seagull?"

"Alive?" Cassie added.

<Can I grab a gull? Puh-leeze. Can Michael Jordan hit a three-pointer? They're just rats with wings.>

"Tobias is like really into the whole bird thing, isn't he?" I said as I watched the hawk fly off. It seemed like such a sad existence. No home. No family. Like me.

But worse. He was trapped as an animal. At least I was human.

"Tobias just has some fairly definite opinions about birds," Jake said. "He respects most eagles, owls, and other hawks. Looks down on gulls and pigeons. And he absolutely hates jays, crows, and golden eagles."

I laughed. I couldn't believe what I just heard, "He's like a racist or something, only with birds instead of people."

"All those birds are different species," Cassie said. "Humans are all one species. Not really a very good comparison."

I shrugged, "Whatever."

The others were so quick to defend each other. Even their bad traits. Marco wasn't a jerk, he was just a joker. Tobias wasn't a racist, he was just opinionated. I looked down at the sand and kicked at it with my bare foot. I wasn't one of them. I was just the outsider.

In a few moments, the hawk returned with a squirming seagull in his talons.

<That was actually fun,> Tobias said with a laugh. <Snatched him out of midair while he was diving on some guy's sandwich. And, as much as I so did not want to, I acquired the gull. David's not the only one without a gull morph.>

Cassie took the gull from the hawks' talons and comforted it. Cassie seemed so comfortable around animals. She brought it to me. 

"I'm starting to get this down," I said, pressing one hand against the gull's wing. "Just focus and his DNA is mine."

"Yeah," Jake agreed. "Easy after a while. So let's do it. We morph to gulls, we skim on down the beach, and land in the resort. See what we see."

"One big point," Cassie said. "Act like gulls, okay? The humans won't be looking for trouble from seagulls. But the Yeerks will."

We morphed into seagulls. After the first time with the eagle and the horror with the cockroach, this morph seemed like nothing. We took off into the sky.

<"Off we go, into the wild blue yonder, flying high into the sun!"> Marco sang.

Marco never could shut up for very long.

<Marco, why are you singing?> Rachel asked.

<lt's some old movie on the Movie Channel about Air Force pilots. That was their song. "Off we go, into the wild blue yonder, flying high into the sun.">

<Marco? Why are you still singing when clearly I want you to shut up?>

<"Off we go, into the..." Hey! Whoa! Pizza Hut! The guy down there on the blue beach towel. He's got an entire large pizza!>

With the eagle, there was a calm. Like the eagle knew its power. With the seagull, it was hyper. I kept glancing around at all of the food.

<ls he going to eat all that himself?> I asked. <No way one guy eats a large pizza.>

Other seagulls circled the man. He looked a little nervous. I wanted to dive down and steal some.

<Keep flying,> Jake said. 

I fought with the seagull to continue forward, away from the pizza. 

<Fries!> Rachel cried.

<Okay, now look,>  Jake scolded, <we are about to try and - >

<Oh! Oh! Fried chicken!> Marco said. <Hey, Tobias. If a seagull eats chicken, is that like cannibalism or something?>

<That depends. Extra crispy or regular?>

Despite my brain, or the seagull's brain, wanting to stop and devour everything in sight, we neared our destination. There was a man in a dark-suit near a row of tall trees. He wore dark sunglasses and talked into a handheld radio. It was obvious he was part of the security detail. He wasn't the most dangerous. The dangerous part was the security detail wearing casual clothes on the beach. The ones who weren't obvious.

<Gee, could that guy look any more like Secret Service?> Rachel said with a laugh. <And there's another one just ten feet away.>

<Of course they're Secret Service, > I agreed. <But so are some of the people lying out here on the beach. With something like this, probably half the people on the beach are security.>

I was happy to be able to contribute in some way. Maybe my knowledge in this area would make the Animorphs stop thinking I was a liability.

<And of course you're the big expert because your dad is a spy,> Marco said with a sneer in his voice.

<He's with the National Security Agency, that's right, > I noted. I wasn't going to let Marco take this away from me.

<Yeah? Well now he's with the Yeerk Security Agency,> Marco muttered.

My mind flashed to my parents. To my dad protecting me in the bedroom. My dad with a blade against his throat. My dad holding his bleeding hand. To my dad ordering me found.

My dad, my hero. Gone.

<Shut up, Marco!> Jake snapped. <That was over the line.>

It was a few moments before I heard Marco say, <You're right. I was out of line. Sorry.>

It wasn't a real apology. Marco was a jerk and would always be a jerk. I ignored him. I couldn't have those images of my dad in my head right now. 

We flew around individually to spy on the operations. The security guys paid no attention. There were seagulls everything. There was no reason for them to focus on us. We were invisible to them.

<This is easy,> I said. <What's the big deal?>

<As long as we just want to fly around, no big deal,> Jake agreed. <But we need to get inside some of these buildings. Maybe all these buildings.>

<The question is, where do we begin? And how?> Ax said.

The resort had a dozen or more buildings. The main building was a large, multistory, modern hotel shaped like an "L." There was a lower, two-story portion stuck off to one side. A ballroom or conference room, most likely. Down by the water were the cottages, like individual homes separated from the others by hedges and trees.

The hotel was what one would expect from a five-star resort. Landscaping perfect, golf course, pool with a full bar. There were the two presidential helicopters resting on a grass landing area. Uniformed Marines stood at attention by the doors of the helicopters.

<Okay, there is definitely some security on this place,> Marco said. <Guys on the roof, guys in the bushes, guys sitting in cars, guys out on the golf course pretending to play golf. It looks like Men in Black around here. These guys all have the same suit.>

<Look! Canine teams!> Jake yelled. I looked down to see two German shepherds sniffing around with their handlers following closely. <Maybe we could morph German shepherds and get in as part of the canine team.> 

Security was checking ever single person or vehicle that came near the hotel. They were in direct contact with each other using earpieces and microphones. I had met many men and women just like these people. They were brave and dedicated. A few kids who could morph into seagulls were not a threat.

<Here's an idea. Let's give up,> Marco said. <This would be totally depressing even if we didn't have to worry about some of these guys being Controllers.>

<Every square inch of this entire place is being watched,> Jake said. <We can't morph or demorph anywhere around it. We need to get inside to learn what we want to learn, but that would mean going insect basically. And the problem with any insect morph is that we'd have to morph the bug way outside the compound, which leaves us traveling a long, long way as spiders or cockroaches or flies. None of which can see well enough to travel those distances without getting lost.>

<Or eaten,> Rachel added.

<You guys could morph fleas and get onto someone who we knew was going inside the compound.> Tobias suggested.

<But fleas are useless for seeing, and they aren't much good at hearing,> Cassie said. <We'd get in, but once inside we'd get nothing. And how would we ever get back out again?>

I listened to the  conversation but I stayed out of it. I didn't know what to do. And I wasn't going to suggest anything where I would have to morph into a cockroach again.

<Are we beat?> Marco asked.

<Maybe. Only we can't be. No matter what the risk, we have to get inside and - AAAAHHHH!> Jake ended with a pained scream.

<Jake, what's happening?> Cassie cried.

<AAAAAHHHH!> Ax screamed now.

<What's going on?> I asked nervously. I looked around for the threat but there was nothing. I felt the familiar panic rise up in my chest. 

<TTAAAAHHHHH!> 

Someone else screamed. My mind was too scared to sort out the voice. All of the screams were so full of pain, there was no difference.

<lt's that guy!> Jake said. <That bald guy! He's doing it!>

I saw the bald man turn his gaze to another seagull. The seagull spasmed in midair, recovered from the pain, and flew away. I wanted to follow that seagull instead of these kids.

<Ax! What is that guy doing? I don't see any weapon.>

<He may... he may be using a very low-power Dracon beam. Possibly hidden on his body, with the sunglasses used as emitters.>

<Are you telling me he can shoot whatever he's looking at?> Jake said. 

<Yes. It will cause intense pain. As you may have noticed.>

<So he's a Controller chasing away the birds. He doesn't kill us because that would be too obvious - dead birds dropping everywhere.>

<Chasing away possible Andalites in morph,> Marco agreed.

The conversation just sounded fuzzy to me. My mind felt like it was fading out. Going grey.

<Oh, man! He's looking at -AAAAAHHHH!> 

I cringed inside at the scream. 

_I can't do this,_ I wanted to scream back.

<Cassie!>

<Oh. Oh, that hurt. Oh man, I'm not kidding here. That was like a full-body dental visit without Novocain.>

<Cassie. Bail. Fly away. That's what a gull would do. But not everyone at once!> Jake added quickly. <We can't move like we know what's happening.>

Was he serious?

<We have to stay here and let that guy zap us?> I demanded. <We should either run or go kick his butt for him!>

I wasn't going to get hurt for no reason for Jake. The others seemed to fine blindly following him but I wasn't an idiot. I wasn't going to let Jake get me killed.

A coldness took over my body and mind as the bald man turned his gaze on me. 

<He's looking at me!> I yelled. <What am I supposed to do?>

<Nothing. Take it. Then you can->

<AAAAAHHHHH!> I screamed as the pain hit me. It was a fire burning my flesh. An electric shock ran through my body. I felt the seagull's body spasm.

It washed over me in a wave. My mind felt numb, reeling from the effects, <Okay, that was a major ouchie! Now can I get out of here?> 

<Yeah, fly,> Jake said. <And by the way, David? Good job.>

<Thanks,> I said. For a moment, it felt good. I had succeeded. I had survived. That 'good job' sounded so familiar as if it could have been coming from my dad. Then my mind cleared and I remembered everything, <Thanks a lot.>

I flew away. 

I wished I could fly away from more than just the bald man.


	2. Chapter 2

We left.

Jake, Rachel, and Marco went off in one direction to their perfect lives. Ax and Tobias went off towards the woods. And I followed Cassie back to the farm. I was supposed to sleep in the hayloft.

Like some animal.

"It was a tough day," Cassie said as we walked into her barn. She quickly busied herself checking on the animals in the cages. Frail little things trapped, like me. 

"Yeah," I replied noncommittally. I didn't feel like reliving how I panicked while turning into a cockroach or screamed like a weakling over the pain. 

"It was tough for us at the beginning." Cassie continued. "It still is tough. It's hard to know what is right in these circumstances."

I sat down on the large hay bales near some of the cages. I nodded. I wasn't sure if I believed her but it was nice having someone take an interest in me. "Yeah. It's just... It's just so much more than that. I just hate being so alone."

"You aren't alone. You have us." Cassie said as she continued her rounds. "Did you want me bring you any books? I left a couple up there but I wasn't sure what you liked."

"I'm sure it's fine." I said and sighed. I wanted my bed, my comic books, my house. I wanted my parents. I forced a smile. "Unless you have any X-Men comics."

Cassie smiled back. She had a warm, radiant smile that was meant for making people feel at ease. Sometimes people who loved animals too much didn't know how to act around people. Not Cassie. She cared for everything. "Afraid not. I left Watership Down up there. It is one of my favorites."

"That's the one with the rabbits, right?" I asked. 

Cassie let out a small laugh. "That's it."

I fell back on the hay bale and stared up at the rafters. There were a few moments of comfortable silence as Cassie opened another cage and I thought back on the day. I laughed, a little harshly, and said, "X-Files never prepared me for anything like this. I wish I could watch some of that right now."

"Or Star Trek," Cassie said absently. I sat up and saw that she was focused on some bird, carefully looking at the wing. 

For a little bit, I was able to forget everything as we continued the small talk. I was just talking about animals and TV shows with a pretty girl. It was a nice escape.

 Until my mind caught up.

 I appreciated Cassie's attempt to make everything feel normal. She was the only to take any interest in me at all. 

 All of a sudden, the entire day started to weigh down on me. My mind raced back to morphing the eagle, killing the crow, being trapped in the spaceship, turning into a cockroach, almost dying, falling out of the spaceship, and that pain.  

That pain, I would not forget that anytime soon. Even as I thought about it, I felt my teeth clench together. 

 My breath caught in my chest, causing a heaviness. I slowly breathed in and out. I didn't want Cassie noticing me panicking. After a few minutes, my mind cleared and my breath came out mostly normal.

 "Cassie, thanks for everything," I said. "But I think I am going to crash. It's been a long day."

 That was the understatement of the century. It had been a long few days. 

 "Of course, David," Cassie said sweetly. 

 She finished checking on some last animals while I climbed up to the hayloft. 

 Cassie had set up a makeshift bed with blankets and pillows hidden by some small hay bales. She had left me a flash light, a small clock, a bag of chips, and a couple books. 

I sat down on the blankets as Cassie turned off most of the lights in the barn and left. It was eerie with just the subdued noises of sleeping or pacing animals. And in the dark, I felt more alone than I ever had. 

I curled up under the blankets and wished for my mom and dad like a little kid. I thought of the dinners where we were all together, joking about how my dad will always make asparagus despite the fact that no one will eat it. My mom humming to herself as she studied some spreadsheets. My dad running his hand across her back and kissing her neck when they thought I couldn't see.

I missed them so much.

 I pulled the blankets over my head as I cried silent tears. I wanted to be back in my own, my own room. I wanted this to be a nightmare. I just wanted my life to be normal again.

I closed my eyes to block any more tears. But it didn't help. I couldn't stay in this place. It reminded me of everything that was wrong in my life. It felt like my world was caving in. I needed a distraction.

 I stood up, careful not to hit my head on the low beams, and carefully made my way down the ladder in the near dark. I glanced at the animals in the cages and whispered, "I know how you guys feel."

Stepping out into the chilly air of the Californian night made me feel a little better. I glanced up at the mostly cloudless night and stared at the stars. The meaning behind everything changed. Stars were no longer beautiful. Animals were no longer cute and innocent. The world was no longer safe.

Out on Cassie's farm, there seemed to be more stars than usual. These tiny lights seemed to be laughing at me. I shook my head as the anger built up.

I started to walk slowly down the long driveway before veering into one of the open fields. The grass felt much better on my bare feet than the gravel. The field took me far enough away from the barn and Cassie's house to make me feel like I was escaping. In some small way. Further ahead was the woods.

I grinned in the darkness. I was alone here but it was by my own choice. I looked around at the solitude around me. I could try out some morphs here, prepare myself before a battle for once. 

I focused on my strongest morph. I hadn't been able to try it out yet. I also focused on morphing my clothes with me since I couldn't count on the others to teach me how and I didn't want another embarrassing moment of life-or-death-while-nude. 

Immediately, I felt fur rise up from my skin and from my clothes, not too much darker than my own skin. My own blond hair flowed out and thickened around neck. I felt my face and my skull push out and flatten. My bones shifted and I fell forward onto my hands. No, paws. I flexed one paw and watched the claws slide out. I retracted my claws as I concentrated on continuing the morph. 

I couldn't see the rest of the morph but I felt it in that weird, numb way. It was a sensation that would never not be strange. 

When it was finished, I snarled to reveal the sharp deadly teeth. I lazily looked around. There wasn't any threat to me.

I was the threat. I was the predator. 

I was the lion.

I gracefully padded across the damp grass. I sniffed the air and an abundance of information rushed in. I knew the prey. I knew when they were last here. 

There was nothing to worry about. 

I sprang forward effortlessly and broke into a slow run until I reached the line of trees. I paused for only a moment before sauntering into the woods. The lion was a perfect balance of power and calm.

I heard the roar of traffic not too far away and made my way towards it. I wasn't sure what I was looking for but I felt like I needed to see some sort of civilization. I needed normal. Even if it was just for a moment.

I emerged from the thickness of the trees near a major road. On the opposite side was the classic strip mall with the chain restaurants. Taco Bell, McDonald's, some tire place, a gas station, and a Holiday Inn. The Holiday Inn's parking lot looked mostly empty. 

After a quick glance around, I demorphed back into myself, carefully focusing on bringing back the clothes I had been wearing. When it was complete, I looked down with a sigh of relief.

I stared towards the Holiday Inn for a few minutes. At the dark, empty rooms. With the comforts of a bed and a TV. It sounded like paradise after these past few days. A moment to be normal.

I focused on the golden eagle, much more prepared for the morph this time. As soon as it was finished, I flapped my wings hard to get lift in the stale night air.

I circled in the air, making a few passes past one window. It was empty. It could be home for a few hours. A large rock in the parking lot grabbed my eye. I angled my wings, swooped down to the lot, and closed my talons around the rock. It wasn't as easy as I expected with no flesh to grab.

I flapped a little higher before closing in my wings and shooting towards the window. I released the rock and the momentum carried it through the window, shattering the glass. I flared my wings and soared back into the sky, looking out for anyone who heard the noise. Everything was still. 

I flew towards the window, folding my large wings in before diving through the window. I tried to flare once inside but I hit some furniture and tumbled into the room. 

Concentrating on my own body, I quickly morphed back to human. I flopped down on the bed, turned on a lamp on the nightstand, and grabbed the remote. I turned on the TV and mindlessly flipped through the channels. 

It was a nice escape. I wasn't even sure how long I had been there when I heard a knock on the door. I muted the television and froze, unsure what to do. 

Then I heard a voice, "David, it's me, Jake. I know you're in there."

I walked over to the door and opened it. 

Jake was standing there, looking furious. He shoved his way into the room and I closed the door behind him

"What, exactly, are you doing here?" He practically screamed. 

I shrugged. "Hanging out. Watching some tube. Sleeping in a normal  
bed. What's that, a crime?"

"Yeah, it is a crime," he said. "You didn't pay for this room."

"It was empty. So what?" I asked. It wasn't like I was stealing something. The room wasn't even being used. 

He pointed at the broken window. "You broke a window to get in."

I wanted to counter that Tobias stole clothing without a lecture from self-righteous Jake. Besides, like Tobias had said, birds are not capable of stealing. "Hey, a bird broke a window, okay? A bird used a rock to dive-bomb the glass. Is that a crime? I don't think so. Officer, arrest that eagle? That's not happening."

"You're not talking to someone who doesn't know what's what, okay? The eagle morph is just a body and basic instincts. The mind is yours.  
Eagles don't bust into Holiday Inns. That was you."

I sat back down on the bed and grabbed the remote control. I flipped through a few channels. I doubted Marco would be getting this type of scolding. 

"Listen, David, we don't break laws. Not unless absolutely necessary. We don't hurt innocent people. We have to control how we behave. We're not a bunch of criminals. Like on the beach when we needed clothing? I already mailed the money to the shop. Are you going to do that here?"

I stopped flipping through the channels. I just stared straight ahead for a few moments. I wasn't a criminal. I was the victim in the whole mess. These kids stole my life from me. Everything was gone.

"How's it end for me, Jake?" I turned and glared at Jake, "I have no home, all right? My family wants to turn me over to the Yeerks. What am I supposed to do? Keep living in that barn? It's easy for you, Jake. You have a family. You have a home. You all have homes. You all sleep in beds at night and watch TV and eat at a table."

"Not all of us," Jake said. "Not Tobias. Not Ax."

"Ax isn't even human. Neither is Tobias. I am. I'm human, like you and  
Marco and Cassie and Rachel, and all of you have homes. All of you can walk around the mall without having every Controller around come down on you." 

"It's a bad situation," Jake said, dismissively. "It stinks."

"Yeah. And what are you going to do about it, Jake?" I asked. 

"I ... look, we can only handle so many things at once, okay? Right now the leaders of the most powerful nations on Earth are being targeted by the Yeerks. I feel the clock ticking. I know your life sucks, okay? But I can't figure that out right now. Later. After this mission is over."

"Yeah. Right." I just looked at him with a small shake of my head. I was just one of his soldiers. But I wasn't even that. I was never going to be a part of their team. I would have to start looking out for myself. "Well, how about this, Jake? I'll handle my life. You be the big boss of the Animorphs, and I'll take care of me."

I paused and took a deep breath. I wasn't one to give long speeches. I was used to being in the background, not being noticed. I continued, "It's like school and home, okay? It's like being an Animorph is school, and you're the teacher or the principal or whatever. But then, after I go home, you don't tell me what to do anymore."

Jake shook his head, smugly. "No, that's not what it's like, David. I don't want to come down on you, but the way it is is like this: You want to go around using your powers in selfish ways, then we can't have you around. You're just a danger to us. And you're against what we stand for."

My eyes widened. For the first time, I started to realize just how dangerous these kids really were. I rolled off the bed and stood up. Jake was taller than me but I couldn't let that scare me. They could kill me. There was no one to even wonder what happened. "Are you  
threatening me?"

"No. Just telling you the way it is. We're the only family you have now,  
David. The only people you can trust. The only people who can help you. We're all you have. Deal with it." 

I glared at him with resentment and anger building up again. And there was fear hidden behind that. I couldn't let him see the fear though. The weak never survived. 

I wanted to laugh. Or cry. My family were nothing but mindless slaves now. These kids were not my family; they were strangers, nothing more. I couldn't trust them. I had to find a way out. But I had to be careful.

  
"Let's go," Jake demanded.

We left.

 


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, we met in the woods. The others had to skip school. I doubted anyone even noticed that I wasn't in school anymore. The trek out to the woods had been awkwardly silent. 

We made it out to the spot where Ax and Tobias were waiting.

"Cassie says she has a plan for us," Jake said and turned to Cassie.

"See, the problem is, anything bigger than a bug is going to be noticed by the Controllers who are in the security teams," Cassie explained. "But all the insect morphs we have are wrong for this job. Too much distance to cover for a cockroach. Same thing with a fly or an ant. Too much distance with senses that are not much good at dealing with faraway objects."

"Uh-huh," Marco said, nodding grimly. "And so what have you come up with, I hesitate to ask?"

She removed a glass jar from her backpack and held it out for us to see. Inside it was a large, brilliant green insect with two sets of wings.

"What is that, a dragonfly?" I asked.

"Yeah. Dragonfly," Cassie confirmed. "Look closely and you'll notice the eyes. They are huge, relative to the size of the body. They completely cover the dragonfly's head."

"No way," I said. One thing about being an Animorph, I was learning more about animals than I ever had in school. 

Cassie continued. "The housefly morphs we have feed on garbage, carrion, so on. So their sense of sight doesn't have to be great. But dragonflies eat other flying insects. They snag mosquitoes right out of the air. And since we know they don't have echolocation like bats have, they must be using the sense of sight to hunt."

"Wait a minute," I said. "When we became cockroaches we almost got stomped!"

I shivered a little at the thought of turning into an insect again. 

"Seven dragonflies all flying in there together?" Marco said skeptically. "What happens if the Controllers realize there's this sudden plague of dragonflies?"

Cassie seemed to wince. "Well, I thought of that. So, see, only one person would morph the dragonfly. That person would get inside, find a place for the rest of us to demorph, and then morph something else to go spying around."

<I'm not understanding this,> Ax said. <How will the rest of us get inside with this single dragonfly?>

"Well..." Cassie said. "That's the part that is either beautiful or gross, depending on your point of view."

"Oh, I so don't want to hear this," Marco moaned.

"See, the dragonfly is so big, and such a powerful flyer, he can carry passengers." 

There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at Cassie. 

<What kind of passengers, Cassie?> Tobias asked.

"Well ... I think you could get six fleas lined up on -"

"Okay, okay, that's not happening," I interrupted. 

"One of us morphs a dragonfly, the rest of us morph fleas and climb on board like we're flying Delta?" Rachel demanded. "How would we even hold on? It'll be like being on a jet. On the outside of a jet!"

Cassie grinned. "Oh, the holding on part is easy. Fleas are excellent grippers. Besides, for extra safety, you just have to bite the dragonfly and not let go."

The conversation came to a halt again as we just stared at her. She always seemed to have a plan, even if that plan was troubling.

"You're a very disturbing person sometimes, Cassie," Marco said.

Rachel sighed. "Who's the lucky dragonfly who gets to have six fleas attached to him or her?"

"We can draw straws," Jake said.

"Wait a minute, we're doing this?" I asked. I couldn't believe my ears. "Are you nuts?"

Marco pointed at me and said, "For once, I'm with him." 

It was a scary day when Marco and I were in agreement. Jake grabbed some pine needles from the ground and rearranged them in his hand, "Short needle morphs the dragonfly." 

We all drew. Jake was the winner. Or loser. He reached into the jar and  acquired the dragonfly. After him, I reached into the jar and touched the flea that had been hopping around. It was difficult to catch but finally I gently grabbed it.

As I held it between my fingers, my mind started to race. "This can't even be possible. I mean, a flea? Look how big we are! The flea is like... like a grain of sand."

<It is possible,> Ax said. <The extra mass is extruded into Zero-space. Our own minds and brains are pushed into Zero-space and maintain contact with the morph by means of a -> 

I dropped the flea back into the jar and stared at the alien. "What is he talking about?" 

Rachel shrugged. "We don't have any idea. But he's right: It works. So just relax with it."

"I'm going to become a flea and I should just relax. A flea!" I turned to the others and looked between each of them. The faces didn't give away anything.

No one responded.

"I'm ready," Jake said. He closed his eyes.

Then, his eyelids weren't there. His eyes slowly grew into two large insect eyeballs, glittering like a blue and green diamonds. There was a chorus of disgust from the others. 

"Oh. Oh, no," Cassie said in disgust. "Oh. Oh, guh."  


"Man, I didn't need to see that," Rachel agreed.

"Okay, now that is gross," Marco said. "That is seriously gross."

"Aaaahhh!" Jake yelped.

"That does it, I'm outta here!" I said. I stayed where I was despite my brain yelling at my feet to get away from these people.

"I can't see except a blur!" Jake yelled.

"You still have a human brain," Cassie said. "You need the dragonfly's visual cortex to interpret the dragonfly's eyes." 

Jake continued to shrink and meld into dragonfly. Sharp spikes grew all over his legs. Then, like a scene from a sci-fi movie, two legs burst from his chest. His skin turned a green hue. His body stretched out as he kept shrinking. It seemed like he might shrink forever. He was almost the size of a dragonfly when two sets of wings, translucent and almost shimmery, grew from his sides.

It was disgusting and fascinating all at the same time. 

"Jake-" Cassie started.

She was interrupted by Jake zooming up and catching a mosquito a mid-air. The dragonfly started to devour it.

<Ahh!> Jake yelled. <I'm here. I'm in control now.>

We morphed to flea and clumsily climbed aboard the Jake Express. After many failed attempts, we were on our way. I made a note in my mind how no one was appalled that Jake had killed a mosquito. There was no lecture for Jake. No disgust. No outrage. All of that was reserved for the new kid.


	4. Chapter 4

 

 

<Aaaaahhhhh! Would you slow down?> Marco yelled.

<I'm not going that fast. Besides, how can you tell how fast I'm going? You're a flea. You can't see squat,> Jake said, smugly.

<I can feel the wind off your wings! It's like a hurricane. If we fall off we'll have to demorph right in the middle of the beach.>

<Hey, I want to get there, all right?> Jake complained. <You think I like having five fleas with their bloodsucking mouth parts stuck into me?>

<Why are you complaining?> Marco asked. <We're the ones sitting here while you go zipping around playing Top Gun.>

<Aww, shut up, Marco,> Rachel said. <It's kind of fun. The wind whistling through the chinks in my body armor, rustling the spikes on my legs....>

<You people are all crazy,> I interrupted. My mind was playing versions of me falling off or a bird snatching us for a snack. All of these ways that we could die were speeding around in my head.

<At one level, it's kind of fascinating, you know?> Cassie said. <I mean, did anyone ever read the Miss Spider books? Miss Spider's Tea Party, Miss Spider's New Car? This could be Miss Spider Goes Flying.>

<You people are all crazy,> I repeated. 

<Dragonfly Airlines,> Rachel said with a laugh.

<We cannot go any slower,> Ax pointed out. <It took a long time for all of us to get aboard this insect. Added to the time it took for Tobias to fly us here, we have no more than twenty minutes left in morph.>

<How are we doing, Tobias?> Jake asked. The hawk was overheard, guiding us to the resort. 

<You're wandering a little to your left,> Tobias said. <Straighten up. Yeah. That's good. You're on target and closing in fast.>

<It's like watching tapes from Desert Storm,> Rachel said. <You know, like Tobias is the jet pilot, and we're the "smart" weapon going for the target.>

<You put your wars on television for people to watch?> Ax asked. He sounded shocked. <Humans!>

<Wall coming up,> Tobias reported.

<I see the trees,> Jake said.

<I don't see a thing,> Marco said. <But I'm bloated on dragonfly juice.>

It was strange to not be able to see and just listen to all of the thought-speak. At least if we were about to die, I wouldn't even know.

<Okay, I'm going higher,> Tobias said. <I want to get out of range of that bald guy with the killer eyes.>

<Tobias. Can you see any open windows?>

<That's what I've been looking for and no, I can't.>

<We can drop down and go in through the front door,> Rachel suggested.

<The lobby will be full of people,> Jake said. <We're small, but we're not invisible.>

<l have a crazy idea,> Tobias said. <The bellmen and all? They have these kind of tall hats as part of their uniforms. And they keep tipping their hats to the guests before they pick up their bags.>

<That's very polite of them. Who cares?> Marco asked. 

<Well, they raise their hats off their heads...>

<Don't even!> Marco protested.

<You want us to zip in under some guy's hat?> I asked, incredulously. <It would take split-second timing. And then he'd have to not notice this two-inch-long bug on his head.>

<Dragonflies can hover,> Cassie pointed out.

<Let's do it!> Rachel said.

<What is a hat?> Ax asked.

<Okay, let's give this a try,> Jake agreed to the suicidal plan. If you could even call it a plan. The Animorphs never seemed to have any sort of plan from what I had seen. 

Earth was doomed.

<Again, I have to ask: What is a hat?>

<A hat is something people wear on their heads,> Rachel explained to Ax. <A type of clothing.>

<Ah, yes, clothing,> Ax said. <Head clothing. Of course. Is there any part of a human that cannot be clothed?>

<Yeah, the face, which is too bad when you consider Marco's face,> Rachel said.

<Hey, you know I'm the cutest flea you've ever seen,> Marco replied. <No one has prettier bloodsucking mouth parts than me.>

<Whoa!> Cassie cried as we accelerated quickly and the wind whipped around us.

<We're in,> Jake said.

<Now what do we do, Prince Jake?> Ax asked.

<Wish I knew. We need to get a look around this hotel.>

<Our time is running out,> Ax reminded us.

<We can't demorph with this guy in the room,> Cassie said.

<We have to find an empty room fast,> Jake said. <l think I know the way.>

<Yee-hah!>

<What yee-hah? What are you yee-hahing about?> Marco asked.

<We're in the air-conditioning vent,> Jake explained.

<lt is chilly,> Cassie remarked.

<We must demorph very soon,> Ax pressed. 

The conversations in my head felt as if they were speeding up, matching some countdown to a terrible fate. Being trapped as an animal. An insect! 

Time kept passing.

<Prince Jake, there are only five of your minutes left.> 

<What the...?> 

<What is it?> I demanded. <Can we demorph?>

I could feel myself start to panic. I would rather be a slave to the Yeerks than be trapped as some animal. 

<No. We definitely cannot demorph here,> Jake said. <We have to get out of here.>

<I am not getting trapped in flea morph,> Rachel said.

<We have three minutes,> Ax said, rather calmly.

<Aaahhh!> Jake screamed.

<What's happening?!> Rachel yelled.

<It's a spiderweb,> Jake said. <We're caught in a web.>

<Two minutes, Prince Jake!> Ax said. Like a terrible timer counting down.

<I'm demorphing!> I cried. I focused on myself even though it was hard to keep a clear image. I imagined myself being killed by a spider. Trapped as a flea. 

<No!>  Jake demanded. <You'll be crushed inside this duct.> 

The image turned to some half flea-half me version crushed, slowly losing the ability to breathe. There were so many deaths that awaited me. Then the ground, or the dragonfly, began to shake.

<What are you doing?> Rachel yelled.

<Aaaahhhh!> Cassie cried suddenly. 

<Cassie's hurt!> I yelled. With my limited flea vision, I could see blood oozing out from her body. I felt a new wave of worry rush over me. This time it was worry for Cassie. She had been the only one to actually care, she couldn't be hurt!

The flesh continued to shape itself and Cassie lost her grip, falling away. I was helpless to stop her. I couldn't do anything. <Cassie! She fell off!> 

<One minute, Prince Jake,> Ax said. He sounded worried now.

His worry mixed with my panic. I screamed, <No! I'm not getting trapped like this! No! NO! NOOO!>

I pushed all of the fear out of my mind and focused on me. I focused on my blond hair. I focused on my brown eyes. I focused on my nose just like my father's. I could feel myself growing. 

There was a sudden movement and Jake screamed, <DEMORPH! Now! Now! Now!>

I released my hold on the dragonfly and flew through the air, getting larger and large. I landed with a thud, still flea enough not to be injured. 

<Cassie! Demorph!>

I tried to shut out all of their thought-speak to focus on my own demorph. It wasn't easy to shut out the horror edged in every word. The sound of desperation ran together and I couldn't even decipher who was crying out.

<I can't get out of morph!>

<No, no, no! Marco, keep trying! Keep trying!>

<Marco?!> 

<Oh, please, help me! Help me!>

<Marco? MARCO!> 

"Come on, Marco," Cassie broke in, her voice was steady and calm. "Clear your mind of all the fear. You can do this. You will morph. Focus on the picture of yourself. Form the picture in your mind. Let go of the fear and focus on the picture of your own body."

Even though her words were directed at Marco, I focused on them to slowly pull myself out of the flea morph. The plates of the flea's body disappeared in my skin. The extra legs were slurped into my body and my own fingers and toes appeared. My own body returned, as if I had pulled myself out of molasses.  

I stood up only to focus on my worst nightmare. 

A large monstrosity, mostly flea still, sat on the table. Cassie cradled its face in her hands, staring into its dead-seeming eyes. I glanced around at the others and took only a moment to realize that flea was Marco. 

I stared at him in horror. I never liked Marco but I would never wish that fate on anyone. It was the worst thing I could imagine. To be trapped like that. With no hope at all. 

Slowly, the armor covering his large body softened into flesh. The mouth parts disappeared. The spikes dissolved into hair. The horrific thing slowly became Marco. 

He sat on the edge of the table, completely human, and wrapped his arms around Cassie's shoulder and cried. It was uncomfortable to witness. It seemed like too private of a moment to be shared with the rest of us.

"Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you, Cassie. You saved my life."

We stared at Cassie and Marco in awe. There were no words to describe what we had witnessed. 

"That was like some kind of miracle," I said in a low voice. 

Marco scooted off the table and wiped his tears away with his hand. He looked like a child. Then I felt silly for even thinking that. He was a child. 

<I do not believe in miracles. I always said Cassie had a talent for morphing. And yet... this is something I have not seen before.> 

"Okay," Marco said, a little too loud, and broke the atmosphere of the room. "Anyone bothered to notice where we are?"

"Yeah. I noticed before when we flew past earlier. That's why I didn't come here. Until we had no other choice." Jake said. "Ax! Stay alert, keep your tail ready. Rachel? We may need some firepower." 

I glanced around the room. Our group seemed so small in the corner of the huge ballroom. There were rows and rows of long tables, carefully covered with white tablecloths. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. A floral-patterned carpet covered most of the floor. 

At each corner of the room stood an ornamental marble pillar. It reminded me of when I visited the capitol building of the last state I lived in. 

In the corner we stood in, however, there was a stainless steel tub. It was a little smaller than a hot tub. The strangest part was we were in the pillar. Or at least where the pillar should have been.

"What the - what is all this stuff?" I asked. "And look at this room! It's like, huge!"

<This, unless I am mistaken,> Ax said, <is a small-scale, portable Yeerk pool.>

"No way!" Rachel said. A darkness covered her skin and it took me a few moments before I realized she was morphing. "Someone would have noticed, duh. There are security guys everywhere."

Her mouth bulged out in the muzzle of a grizzly bear. The same grizzly bear that knocked me out of my house. I frowned a little at that memory. It seemed like so long ago but it hadn't even been a week.

"Rachel's right, there's no way to hide all this here," Jake agreed. "Unless ..."

Ax nodded. <Yes, Prince Jake. I believe we are standing inside a hologram.> 

"Inside a hologram?" I echoed. 

My life just continued to be stranger and stranger. 

"See the pillars in each corner? There should be a pillar here, right where we're standing. There isn't. Instead there's this mini Yeerk pool. And... and that thing." Jake explained and pointed at some device on the table.

<Interesting,> Ax commented. <It's a holographic emitter. But it's only  
a relay. Not the basic emitter. Not what is causing this hologram we're in.>

Rachel continued to morph into the grizzly, getting larger and large. Jake interrupted her, "Rachel? Sorry, I changed my mind. Demorph."

<Are you sure? There could still be a fight,> she said. She sounded as if she wanted there to be a fight.

Jake looked up at the ceiling. I followed his gaze but I couldn't figure out what had caught his interest. I turned my focus back the group and the hologram around us. I wondered out loud, "What happens if someone happens to lean on this column or pillar or whatever it is? They'd have to be using a force field, too, not just a hologram."

Ax nodded in agreement with me. <Yes. Here is what I believe is happening. The Yeerks precisely targeted a Dracon beam from a cloaked ship overhead. They burned down through the roof and through the column, precisely wiping it out. Then they aimed a holographic emitter of enormous power down through the hole to replace the pillar they had vaporized. A hologram strengthened by a force field. The force field directs its force outward, of course. We can step out of this hologram at any time. But we would not be able to step back in.>

I only understood about half of that but I decided not to ask for clarification. It would only confuse me further. Or the others would just ignore me anyways.

"So why doesn't the roof fall down?" Marco asked.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and attempted to answer as levelly as possible, "Maybe the pillars are just for decoration. They probably don't really support the roof. They're just here to look cool."

"So what's the point?" Jake asked. "The force field is in place. How do the Controllers get in here?"

Ax pointed one of his many fingers at an arch made of thick wire. It created a sort of doorway in the force field. <My guess is that this arch blocks the force field. There must be some kind of control device in here. They would simply blank the force field whenever they needed to enter the column.>

Ax squeezed through all of us to make his way to a small computer console on the Yeerk pool. He stared at it for a few moments, then pressed a button. Nothing happened. Jake stepped out of the force field. We watched as he pressed his hand against what seemed to be air and shuffled sideways. It was like watching a mime in the park.

As he reached the archway, his hand came through the force field.

"It's open," Jake said. He stepped through the archway. "Very weird. The force field may be off, but the hologram is still totally real. You'd swear you're walking through solid marble."

He stepped back out and stepped away from the column. He seemed to be inspecting the room. 

"I'm telling you how I want it!" a voice said.

Jake dove underneath a nearby table. The rest of us, carefully concealed by the hologram, jerked at the voice. We drew closer together in a small huddle, even though we knew they couldn't see us. 

Two men and one woman walked through the ballroom. Rachel and Marco watched them carefully. Cassie focused on the table instead. Ax was able to focus everywhere while he continued to work on the computer, tail poised for any danger.

"I want the main table further back, closer to the podium," the man demanded.  

"But how do POTUS and the other HOS's get from the table to the podium?" the woman asked.

"President of the United States." Marco whispered. We all nodded. "And head of state. The other leaders."

"The President and the other heads of state will rise from their seats and travel down along the table, past the photogs, and around the back of the pillar. Then up onto the podium."

"Tony, that doesn't make sense," the other man said. 

The three walked up to the table where Jake was hiding and pulled out the chairs. Cassie let out a small gasp and quickly covered her mouth. She looked at us with worry in her eyes. Marco, looking equally worried, shrugged back.

The three sat down. Any second they would discover Jake. It would be over. Except... it was already over for me. I didn't even exist. Not really. 

"Don't tell me what makes sense. I've spent weeks working this all out," the man named Tony said.

"If so, then why did you tell us something totally different this morning?" the woman asked. 

"You must have misunderstood what I said this morning," Tony said coolly.

"I don't see how."

"Look, Sheila, let me make this simple for you: I am the White House Chief of Protocol. This is my show. Who sits where is my business. Your business is to make it happen."

"Tony, you don't have to get -" the other man started to say.

"Look, just do it," Tony snapped.

"Well, okay, but there will be no time to change your mind again before the banquet," Sheila said, exasperated. "You know the Secret Service detail insists on knowing all the specifics well in advance."

"I won't change my mind. POTUS and the others will approach the stage from behind that column. That's final."

They stood up. Tony left the ballroom in one direction. The other two shook their heads and went in the other direction. As soon as they were out of the ballroom, Jake carefully crawled out from under the table and made his way over to the column.

Once he was inside, Ax said, <Prince Jake, I believe we may have a way out of here. The hologram and the force field seem to be weaker higher up the column.>

"That would make sense," Jake said. "They need it reinforced down low in the strong light, down where people might touch it. That's how I was able to see through the illusion when I passed by in dragonfly morph."

<Yes. I think we could escape by going straight up. Straight through the roof.>

W all looked up at the freedom of the blue sky. It was starting to feel claustrophobic here. The sky looked like paradise.

"Fine. Let's get out of here," Jake said.

Ax hesitated. He turned his stalk eyes toward the stainless steel tub. <The Yeerks are probably already in place. Do we... do we leave them?>

My eyes widened in surprise. It was a brutal move, what the alien was suggesting, but was it the wrong move? I looked towards Jake. His eyes were dark and focused on the Yeerk pool. There wasn't outrage there. There wasn't even disagreement. There was a struggle.

Eventually, Jake shook his head. "Let's fly."


	5. Chapter 5

There was just a small problem. The others discussed how we were going to escape without anyone noticing. We couldn't just fly out from the middle of the roof. There were security guys everywhere. Plus we couldn't contact Tobias. 

It was decided. We needed a distraction.

I stepped forward and started to raise my hand. Then lowered it before anyone noticed and spoke out loud, "The fire alarm. I did it once at my old school to get out of taking a test."

I pointed at the familiar red lever on a wall not too far away. 

"Okay," Jake said. "Good idea."

"I'll do it," I quickly volunteered. I was proud of my idea and I didn't want anyone else to steal my moment. I was tired of feeling so worthless amongst the others.

"Everyone start to morph to seagull. David? You have to throw it and come running straight back." 

"No, duh." I said, almost immediately regretting it.

"Okay. Ready? Go!"

I ran. I reached the switch, yanked it down. The loud screech of the fire alarm started and my body jerked from the sound. I turned quickly on my heel and started to race back to the others.

My foot caught on a chair leg and I flew forward. I crashed into the carpet, hard, my arms barely raised in time to break my fall. My skin stung from the fall.

Before I had time to stand up, the door of the ballroom burst open. I could only see their feet from my position but I knew it couldn't be good. They were most likely Controllers. Anyone else would be evacuating.

I rolled under the nearest table, careful not to make any noise. I watched the shoes move closer to where the others were. My mind frantically tried to come up with a plan. But one thing was clear - there was going to be a fight.

I focused on my lion morph. My skin became itchy as fur covered my body. My muscles begun to expand and I knew this was the right decision.

I noticed Jake crawling towards me, just barely out of sight of the Controllers. That seemed reckless. He didn't need to babysit me.

The mane sprouted from around my neck.

Jake mouthed the word "no" and I grinned at him. I felt my mouth grow as the tearing teeth appeared. I focused on the morph to try to hurry. Jake could be seen at any moment and I would need to jump in.

"Bar the door!" a man's voice yelled. "Push a couple of tables up against it. I'll use the secure link to contact our people. We can't have any of the other security forces barging in here."

There were noises of a table being shoved against the door.

"Okay, if we have Andalite penetration, they could be anything. Even flies. It's probably just a false alarm. Nothing to do with us. We'll know as soon as we check the pool. If it was Andalites... Well, our friends in the pool will not be alive."

I paused in my morph for a moment. It suddenly occurred to me that I had no clue about the Animorphs... or the Yeerks. I needed to get away from them. How else could I know what was the truth?

I shook my head and continued my morph.

Legs walked past the table where I was hidden and a voice, too close for comfort, said, "Turn off the hologram."

I couldn't see anything but Jake from my viewpoint. He glanced back towards the column. There was a noise from the lid of the Yeerk pool being moved.

"They're okay!" a new voice yelled, further away.

"Okay," the leader said, sighing in relief. "No way we have Andalite penetration then. They'd never leave our people alive. Clear the doors. I'll notify the others. Hologram on."

These controllers were right. The Andalite wanted to kill the Yeerks. So who really was the bad guy here?

My morph was finished. I twitched my tail in annoyance. I felt like I was being lied to from all sides. I felt like a pawn in Jake's game.

Legs passed by. I turned my head towards the legs and lowered myself, ready for an attack if needed. I carefully watched the legs when all of a sudden, hands grabbed my mane and pulled me away from the target.

"David," Jake whispered. "Don't. Do. Anything."

I stared at him. I would have rolled my eyes at him if I was able. He distracted me from watching the real threat. I felt my muzzle pull back to reveal my teeth. My annoyance was quickly turning into anger.

"Okay, let's go," the lead Controller said. "Nothing here."

The doors opened and the feet disappeared.

My mother used to tell me it was better to diffuse a tense situation with humor than violence. Being the new kid so often, there were often tense situations.

<Had you worried, huh?> I joked. I knew he had been worried. He didn't think I could handle this. He thought I was a liability.

"No. I knew you were cool."

Just one more lie.

<Just being prepared. You know, in case there was any trouble. I was surprised you didn't go into your tiger morph.>

"Yeah. Well, I didn't see the need."

The so-called leader didn't see the need to be prepared for a fight. Those controllers could have looked at him at any time when he was crawling over. Then their cover would have been blown. At least if he had been in his tiger morph, he would have been safer. Plus he would have been prepared for a fight.

<Hey. You ever wonder who'd win in a fight between a lion and a tiger?> I asked, jokingly. The two big cats were basically the same. <Lion. That's what I think. But it would probably never happen. It's just interesting to think about. I better demorph.>

After I finished morphing back to human, Jake said, "I think the best way out of here now is the same way we came in."

He crawled out from under the table and stood up. I followed.

"Just one difference. We don't have time to waste having you leaping around in flea morph trying to land on me."

"So what are we going to do?"

"David, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but bite me."

"What?"

"Bite me on the back. We'll morph together. Hopefully when your flea mouth parts replace your human teeth, you'll remain latched on."

"Yeah, and hopefully I don't do like Marco and end up a two-foot-tall flea before I shrink," I said with a slight shiver from that thought. I quickly tried to cover up my fear and disgust with a joke. "That might hurt you just a bit."

The plan actually worked. We morphed together and Jake zoomed through the vents until we were outside. Tobias snagged us out of the air and we flew home in an awkward silence.

I could feel the distance between me and the others growing further.


	6. Chapter 6

We knew the plan. The Yeerks would wait for the banquet. The heads of state would walk up to the platform to give speeches and pass behind the holographic pillar. They would be grabbed and held, their heads forced into the pool. A Yeerk would enter through their ears. Minutes later, they would be Controllers.

Just like my parents.

While they were losing their selves, the holographic emitter would project an image of the head of state continuing his walk up to the podium. He would seem to reappear on the far side of the pillar, walk up, and deliver his speech.

By the time the speech was over, the non-holographic head of state would be ready to emerge. The switch would then be done in reverse. 

We gathered in Cassie's barn, my temporary home, to discuss everything.

"Tony, the White House protocol guy, is the man with the slash on his shoe," Jake said. "That was the whole purpose behind grabbing the helicopter. It wasn't the President they were after right then."

"They want a grand slam," I said, trying to channel my dad. "They want all these guys at once. So they snagged the second helicopter, the one that always accompanies Marine One to throw off possible terrorists."

"Exactly," Jake interrupted. "They needed the chief of protocol, the guy who would decide how the banquet was laid out. So Visser Three acquired him. Replaced him."

"What about the real guy? The actual chief of protocol?" Cassie asked.

"Probably still alive," Marco offered. "Visser Three has him drugged, takes his clothes and shoes, goes out and does his stuff. Then later the real Tony wakes up and doesn't realize anything has even happened."

<Why not just make Tony a Controller?> Tobias asked. 

"I don't know," Jake admitted. Some leader he was.

The alien took this chance to speak, <The buildings where these heads of state work and live are carefully guarded? And all of the employees carefully watched?> 

"You know it."

<Then there may be a simple reason: Kandrona rays. If the President and the others are made into Controllers, they won't be able to get away from the President's security people long enough to secretly visit a Yeerk pool every three days for their needed Kandrona rays. So we have to assume the plan will be for the President to have a Yeerk pool and Kandrona placed within the White House itself.>

Rachel made a rude, dismissive noise. "How would they keep something like that secret?"

I quickly looked around at these kids and realized they knew so little. They had no intelligence, no real plan of action. They were reacting only. I carefully spoke up, "Only the President could order something like that done in the White House. And even then, only if most or all of his Secret Service guys and a lot of his staff were Controllers, too."

"The big goal is to get the President and the others," Marco agreed. He wasn't a complete idiot, he just acted like one. "They need to get the President under control and he'll then make it possible for them to install a Kandrona in the White House itself. They need a Kandrona right there. They can't have well-known White House personnel secretly running around to Yeerk pools. So they didn't make this Tony guy a Controller because if the whole scheme fails,he'll be stuck in Washington without access to a Kandrona." 

Cassie shook her head. "Very clever, boys, but as usual you've overlooked a much simpler explanation."

"What simple explanation?" Jake asked.

"Ego," Cassie said. "You have to look at who we're talking about here. It's Visser Three. It's his biggest scheme ever! If it works, the battle for Earth is won. He'll be the big hero of the whole Yeerk Empire. And if it fails, he'll look like a fool. So what's he going to do? Stay aboard the Blade ship and watch? Uh-uh. Not Visser Three. He wants to be there. He wants to be able to say, 'Look, I did it all. Me, me, me!'"

Jake nodded.

Cassie grinned. "Typical males," she said airily, self-mocking. "All you think about is plot. You always forget it's about personality. It's about character. Visser Three has to be there, see. He's an egomaniac."

We all looked at one another, feeling a little disgruntled. But Cassie did have a point.

"I still like our explanation," I said, trying to defend our theory as well.

"Well, I assume this banquet is tonight," Jake said, looking at his watch. "And if I'm right, we have very few hours to figure out how to bust up this plan."

"I need to spend some time at home," Rachel said. "You probably do, too, Jake." 

"Actually, I'm pretty free for now," Jake said. "You heard about Saddler, right?" 

He explained how Saddler had been hit by a car. It sounded like he was being an idiot. Jake talked about how upset his parents were and how it wasn't likely that Saddler would survive.

I tried to seem sympathetic. But these people losing their son just made me think of my parents. How my parents were basically dead to me, taken over by aliens. No one should have to go through that.

No one should have to go through either of those scenarios. They were losing a son, I already lost my parents. Everything could be better for both of us, I thought and tried to contain my happiness. I wouldn't have my parents back but I could have a family and they would have a son.

And wasn't that better than them having to bury him?

The others said the required words of sympathy to Jake. It was more than they had ever expressed about my own parents. I played along and said what I needed to but inside, I was bitter at them. I was angry that they express more grief over the loss of some random cousin than my parents.

I looked around at all of them and realized that I was surrounded by monsters. They wrote my parents off as casualties of the war without a second thought. They faked the motions of regular kids but they were already so damaged. More like the animals they morph than the humans they were.

And I needed to get away from them.

To make matters worse, the plan was insane. It was barely a plan at all. I should have found a way out at that time but I had to be smart. It wasn't the right time yet. 

Jake and the others talked about how they wanted to show everyone there were aliens. They seemed to think that would fix everything. They had no clue how security worked or how easy it was for something to be buried. If the Yeerks were really everywhere, then it would be easy enough for them to cover up "aliens" as some prank, whether the entire world saw it or just the heads of state. 

People would believe it was a prank just to continue to live their normal lives. It was easier that way.

The alien explained about the hologram of the pillar and the force field and the ship. The ship was cloaked, thousands of feet above the hotel. It had to stay in its position exactly to beam the holographic picture and the force field down through the roof of the banquet hall. 

It was feat of technology and energy coming together. Enormous amounts of energy, according to the alien.

<Especially with inferior Yeerk technology,> Ax said snidely. <Andalite technology would do it better, of course.>

"But Erek and the other Chee use holograms constantly," Marco pointed out. "Their visible bodies are holograms."

<Yes. Obviously in that one area, the technology the Chee possess is somewhat superior even to Andalite technology.>

"Way superior," Marco said, grinning like a fool. "Way, way superior. I mean, just so I have this straight, you're saying the Chee technology would be to Andalite technology like human technology is to ... oh, say, chimpanzees?" 

Everyone burst out laughing. I felt so far away from it all. Who were the Chee? Just another secret they had been keeping from me. I looked at each of them. I was just another tool to them. I wasn't a part of their group, I wasn't in on their secrets and jokes. 

And that meant I was on my own.

 


End file.
